ICAO Global Aviation Dialogues draw to a close

The objective of the Global Aviation Dialogues (GLADs) was to discuss methods to reduce carbon emissions from the global aviation sector with ICAO Member States, in particular to propose a market-based measure to cap the sector's net emissions from 2020.

ICAO approximates that to achieve the carbon-neutral growth goal the airline industry could be required to spend around US$2.8bn a year on carbon offsets by 2025, rising to US$11.9bn by 2035.

Around 2% of global man-made CO2 emissions are caused by aviation and ICAO is authorised to address only the international aspect of those emissions, around 65% of the total. According to their estimations, CO2 emissions from international flights amounted to 448m tonnes in 2010 as a consequence of 142m tonnes of fuel consumption. By 2040, the UN specialised agency predicts fuel consumption will increase 2.8 to 3.9 times this amount, with traffic (measured in RTKs) increasing by around 4.2 times.

A fuel efficiency improvement target for the sector was agreed on by ICAO member states of 2% per year but worldwide air traffic is growing nearer to 5%. ICAO anticipates the total efficiency improvement derived from the implementation of new aircraft technology is likely to range from just 0.57% to 1.5% on a yearly basis. By these estimations, an aircraft purchased in 2035 is expected to be between 13% and 31% more efficient than a new aircraft was in 2010.